With a rotation crunch coming, Aaron Boone said that prior relief experience will be among the factors the Yankees consider when they move a starter to the bullpen.
“I guess it’s all baked into the cake,” the manager said before Tuesday’s game against the Royals. “Ultimately, you’re trying to do what’s best for the team. So hopefully, you consider all that and take in all factors and what’s going to serve the team in the best way, and ultimately make that call.”
Boone previously said that results, fit and opponent — the last one being especially important in the playoffs — will also be factors. But on Tuesday, he added that he would personally feel “a little bit” more comfortable using a starter with prior relief experience out of the bullpen, opposed to a starter who hasn’t done the job.
“You probably have that built in, maybe even bias, in your head,” Boone continued. “But that’s why when you’re getting ready to make a decision like that, you talk through it with a lot of people and try and come up with, ultimately, the best thing for our team moving forward.”
The Yankees currently have six healthy rotation pieces: Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, Nestor Cortes and Marcus Stroman.
While they planned on using a six-man rotation for one turn, beginning with Stroman’s Tuesday night start, they will likely revert to a five-man group following Monday’s off day.
Cole, the staff ace, and Rodón, who is making $27 million, are locks for the end-of-season rotation, assuming nothing disastrous happens. Schmidt and Cortes have spent significant time in the bullpen and been designated relievers during their careers, while Stroman has limited relief experience.
Gil has never pitched in relief as a big leaguer, though plenty have fantasized about how his electric stuff might play in short bursts.
When Gil and Schmidt, fresh off the injured list, rejoined the rotation last weekend in Chicago, Cortes temporarily moved to the bullpen and piggybacked Schmidt’s start. Cortes didn’t particularly love the change, but he got the job done.
“Obviously, I was upset. I feel like amongst all the starters, I’ve been the workhorse here,” Cortes said Saturday, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. “Once Cole went down [with shoulder inflammation], they picked me to be the Opening Day starter; not necessarily the No. 1, but the Opening Day starter. I had to switch my routine there, and now they do this.
“I’m never going to back down from a challenge. I’m never going to leave my teammates out to dry. You’re always going to get my best effort, no matter if I’m happy or not. That’s what I did today. I just came out there and proved that I can be put in any situation, and from here on out, if that’s what’s my role is, then I’ll accept it.”
It wouldn’t be surprising if Cortes becomes the odd man out again. He has experience, and his left arm could help the Yankees match up in the playoffs. At that point, they won’t even need five starters, let alone six, meaning more difficult choices after the regular season.
For now, the focus is the end-of-season rotation. The current plan is for Boone to let the days play out, but the Yankees will have to whittle things down soon.
“We’ll have those conversations and hopefully be in a position where we have to make a tough decision,” Boone said, “and then we’ll make it.”
WHAT ABOUT THE ACTUAL RELIEVERS?
With the Yankees taking a matchup-based approach to the late innings ever since Clay Holmes’ 11th blown save of the year, Boone was asked if he’d be comfortable not having defined roles for his high-leverage relievers by the end of the season/start of the playoffs.
He said he would be.
“If we end up settling on a guy that ends up closing out games all the time to most of the time, that’s fine too,” Boone said. “I’m going to let that evolve. Reality is I have a lot of confidence in a lot of guys down there right now, and my biggest focus right now is trying to get those guys in positions to where they can be most successful and most impactful. So I’m not really committing to anything right now.”
Reminded that relievers sometimes prefer knowing how they’ll be used, Boone added, “In a perfect world, I guess maybe you have that. But that’s not always the reality. The reality I’m dealing with is I feel like we have a lot of really good pitchers down there, and my job, our job, is to get them in the best positions to hopefully impact us winning games. So that’s kind of the message. It may not be the most ideal message for everyone, but that’s okay. I have a ton of respect for all those guys down there, and I know they’re all ready, willing and able to take the ball, and we’ll just roll it out as best we can night in and night out.”
THE MARTIAN’S IMPACT ON VERDUGO
A day after Alex Verdugo embraced Jasson Domínguez’s promotion to the big league roster, Boone said that he spoke to the former about how his playing time will be effected.
“He and I spoke, yeah,” Boone said of Verdugo. “That role is a little bit fluid. Certainly, Jasson being here impacts him some. So we had a conversation, but that’s about as far as I’ll go with it.”
Domínguez is expected to play regularly, and he will be in left field when Aaron Judge is in center. Verdugo has been the Yankees’ everyday left fielder all season.
With Giancarlo Stanton off and Judge DH’ing on Monday, Verdugo started in left while Domínguez played center. On Tuesday, Domínguez was in left with Verdugo on the bench, Judge in center and Stanton DH’ing.
DJ DONE?
Boone said that it’s “unclear” if DJ LeMahieu (hip impingement) will return this season after undergoing an MRI on Monday.
“I don’t want to mess up the diagnosis, because there was some stuff with the hip and everything,” the skipper said when asked about LeMahieu coming back. “I wouldn’t necessarily rule it out, but I wouldn’t count on it either.”
LeMahieu, hitting .204/.269/.259 with two homers, 26 RBI and a 51 wRC+ over 67 games this season following a broken foot, is 36 and still owed $30 million over the next two seasons.
Boone expects the veteran to be around the team the rest of the season, and no additional tests are planned.
With LeMahieu on the shelf, Boone said that Oswaldo Cabrera will be Anthony Rizzo’s backup at first base.
